The intensive use of agricultural and horticultural areas requires fertilisers to be added for optimal production of grasses or crops. Mineral fertilisers added can compensate for the used up nutrients; however, the product is expensive and is applied in powder or more typically applied in pellet form by drill, broadcase, or liquid application means directly to the field where at least a portion is susceptible to dissolving in rain and running into ponds, streams, rivers, lakes and other areas of the drainage ecosystem resulting in undesirable algae bloom and contamination. Fertilizing exclusively on the basis of mineral fertilisers has, however, the disadvantage that no organic substance is supplied to the intensively used soil. Organic substance in the soil is important for the preservation of fertility. For this reason humus-forming organic substance is added time and again at regular intervals as a soil improving measure. Animal manure has proved to be especially suitable. However, handling animal manure requires a great deal of work and the stench can cause nuisance, particularly in allotments.
Existing systems for erosion control and seed establishment use paper, wood such as sawdust, paper/straw/jute combinations to provide a hydro mulch composition. These hydro mulches are difficult to use and have low performance efficiencies. Additionally, application of paper and wood hydro mulches is limited by the amount of water that can be carried on a hydro mulch spreader. Generally, paper and wood hydro mulches require large quantities of water for efficient spreading. Use of straw mulches has not been successful in hydro seeding. All of these compositions typically require liquid or fertilizer to be applied simultaneously with or added to the mulch to enhance the growth of grass in the mulched areas. Moreover, the clogging of the pumps and nozzles during hydro seeding and hydromulching is a problem that needs to be addressed by control of the particle size.
Conventional methods of applying paper or wood hydro mulches spread seed and mulch by using truck mounted pumps and water cannons for large area applications. The composition of the present invention is dried and sterilized and may be bagged and sold in garden centers and the like with little or no objectionable odor so long as the product is packaged in a moisture proof or resistant container, box, or bag. The product is useful in hot houses, flower gardens, and homes in addition to road side commercial application for control of drainage and erosion.
There is an emphasis in developed countries on the production of food crops by use of certified organic crop production processes and materials. The United States and other countries have developed standards for qualifying food products as “organic” or “organically produced,” and several certifying organizations and government agencies exist to certify farms and market produce as “organic” under the appropriate standards. The concept underpinning “organic” food and crop production is that the inputs used in crop or animal production (fertilizer, seeds, feeds, sprays, etc.) are allowed to contain only minimal levels of certain approved non-natural materials, such as synthetic chemical fertilizers, genetically modified organisms. The food products are not allowed to contain any amount of designated undesirable materials, such as pesticides, drugs, growth hormones, pathogens.
There is rapidly increasing consumer demand for organic products. The “certified organic” labeling and terminology has been developed to define products or produce certified by recognized organizations as meeting the applicable agency standards and product or produce made by methods that meet the agency standards for organic production methods. An essential aspect of certified organic food production is the necessity of using production means that are certified organic, such as fertilizers, which are either approved, such as materials containing no pathogens or other disqualifying components, or regulated and accepted, such as manures, composts and the like that meet the applicable standards.
There is a substantial need for environmentally and economically acceptable technologies for disposal of manure, for control of noxious and greenhouse gases from animal feeding operations, and for production of organic fertilizer and soil builder products that can be certified for food production under established standards for certified organic food production. The present invention is directed to methods, apparatus, systems and products for these needs.
The natural fertilizers according to the present invention consists of formed and broken horse droppings material and contains among other things essential trace elements, the concentration of which in the soil has fallen off in the soil and particularly on areas intensively used. It contains important primary nutrients, as nitrogen and phosphorus, besides such important micro-nutrients like selenium and iodine.
Examples of the prior art and publications that have addressed the production of organic or certified organic fertilizer products are U.S. Pat. No. 5,354,349 to Inoue; U.S. Pat. No. 6,461,399 to Connell; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,517,600 and 6,645,267 to Dinel; U.S. Patent Applications 2003/0038078 by Stamper et al., 2003/0089151 and 2003/0136165 by Logan et al., and 2003/0111410 by Branson.